DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis.
For Windows users, Heidi Computers Ltd. offers a free open source tool called Eraser. It has a utility for creating a DBAN boot CD for drive wiping, but also runs as a desktop application that offers the ability to securely wipe only specified folders and files. Heidi Computers also hosts a DBAN support forum.
For Linux, a secure file wiping utility called Wipe is also available. Additionally, there are also a variety of Linux command-line incantations that can be used to fill a hard drive with zeroes or nulls.
